SK Telecom (SKT) and Deutsche Telekom struck a deal to develop a large language model (LLM) to enhance digital customer care assistants for the telecoms industry, targeting collaborations with AI giants including Anthropic and Meta Platforms.

The project will be the first from an AI alliance formed by SK Telecom, DT, e& and Singtel earlier this year, with the working group at the time identifying assistants as one of its focus areas. 

Deutsche Telekom stated the pair will work on a multilingual AI model with companies including Anthropic and Meta Platforms and plan to release the first version of the chatbot set-up in Q1 2024.

The German operator predicted the LLM will help other telecom players in Europe, Asia and the Middle East build their own AI assistants.

Claudia Nemat, Deutsche Telekom board member for technology and innovation, said “AI shows impressive potential to significantly enhance human problem-solving capabilities”, adding training a model based on its unique data will complement this development. 

In a separate, related, statement, SKT claimed the companies are responding to a “recent surge in AI demand” from operators and cited the technology’s use beyond intelligent contact centres such as network monitoring and on-site operations.